Chapter 272: Suspicious Cleaner

This murderer thought his work was flawless, attempting to use a fire to destroy the corpse and erase the traces, deceiving everyone.

But in reality, a flaw has already emerged.

He completely misunderstands, and underestimates the forensic pathologist profession.

A forensic pathologist's job is to make the dead "speak"!

…

After circling the scene and gathering everything that could be used,

Han Fei then led the officers back to the Police Station.

Staying at the scene to grind it out isn't a solution; after all, the site has been burned beyond recognition, with no trace left by the murderer, so remaining there is just a waste of time.

To catch the murderer, they can only rely on surveillance.

Back at the Police Station, the officers began reviewing the footage.

Since the fire had just broken out, what they needed to do was examine the surveillance from the hours before the blaze.

Especially the footage at the Restroom entrance.

The murderer either killed first, then carried the body into the Restroom.

Or simply killed inside the Restroom and then set fire to cover the evidence.

But regardless of which possibility, there must be some trace left.

While the officers watched the footage, the forensic pathologist was conducting the autopsy.

Half an hour later.

The forensic pathologist in charge of the autopsy made progress.

"Han Team, this is a simple autopsy report: the victim has two fatal knife wounds on the left rear neck, cause of death is arterial rupture with massive bleeding; the murderer is probably left‑handed; judging from the shape of the cuts, the weapon is a very common fruit knife, the tip was inserted from top to bottom diagonally into the victim's back neck; therefore the murderer held the knife in reverse, with the tip on the little‑finger side rather than the palm side; the stabbing posture is roughly… like this."

The forensic pathologist also demonstrated the murderer's stabbing posture to Han Fei.

"The knife was thrust diagonally downward into the victim's back neck, so the murderer should be taller than the victim?"

The forensic pathologist nodded: "Yes, the victim was 173 cm tall; the murderer should be over 180 cm, otherwise that stabbing angle would be unlikely, though it doesn't rule out the murderer deliberately faking the angle."

"Got it, keep dissecting to see if there are any other clues," Han Fei said, placing the autopsy report on the table and resuming the surveillance review.

From the autopsy report, they obtained two clues.

First, the murderer might be left‑handed.

Second, the murderer's height should be over 180 cm, possibly even taller.

Of course, they cannot rule out the murderer deliberately misleading the police.

Thus, when the forensic pathologist mentioned these earlier, they used words like "should" and "might".

Han Fei has participated in many major cases and is highly experienced.

He has also encountered many cunning murderers.

There are cases where a right‑handed murderer uses the left hand to mislead the police.

At that moment, Xu Mo pointed at the computer screen and spoke up.

"Play the footage back two seconds, Han Team, this cleaner entering the Restroom looks a bit suspicious. Cleaners are usually middle‑aged women or men; looking at this person's gait, it's clearly a young person, judging by the build it's a male, and he's wearing a mask covering his face, walking with his head down, probably avoiding the cameras."

Following Xu Mo's pointing direction, Han Fei saw a cleaner pushing a cleaning cart in the footage.

"This person is indeed suspicious, and there's also a burned cleaning cart in the Restroom…," Han Fei muttered, staring at the screen.

Thinking that, he called out to Chen Ke.

"Chen Ke, call the person in charge over at the Weishi Building and ask who the cleaner on the 13th floor is, whether it's a young guy?"

He immediately took out his phone and started calling.

A short while later, he put the phone down.

"The person in charge checked and said the 13th‑floor cleaner is an older woman named Ma Hui Fen, 54 years old; he also said all the cleaners in the Weishi Building are older women, no young people."

Hearing this, Han Fei and Xu Mo exchanged a glance.

The 13th‑floor cleaner is an older woman.

All the cleaners in the Weishi Building are older women; there are no young people.

Thus, the identity of the young male cleaner wearing a mask and covering his face seen in the footage becomes obvious.

He is most likely the murderer!

He deliberately disguised himself as a cleaner to get in.

Wearing a mask and walking with his head down was also to avoid being captured by the cameras.

The footage continued to play.

The suspicious cleaner exited the Restroom a minute after entering.

When he came out, he was no longer pushing the cleaning cart.

Moreover, his stride was noticeably faster than before.

In just three seconds, he vanished from the Restroom doorway footage.

Shortly after he left, the Restroom caught fire.

Later, someone tried to enter to extinguish the fire, but the blaze was too intense to be put out.

It is worth noting that Han Fei and Xu Mo also saw a scene in the footage.

The flames in the Restroom suddenly surged, bursting out the door and scorching several would‑be rescuers.

Then, someone took out a phone and began dialing for help.

He checked the time: 5:43.

That was exactly the time the Police Station received the report.

Although the footage had no sound, from the sudden burst of flames it can be inferred that this was the explosion the caller mentioned.

Preliminary inference: this explosion was caused by fire igniting the marsh gas.

The reporter treated the explosion as a terrorist attack and immediately called the police.

Seeing this, Han Fei immediately confirmed it.

The arsonist is this suspicious janitor!

Han Fei instantly switched to another camera and kept tracking the suspicious janitor.

He wanted to see where he went after leaving the Restroom.

The surveillance footage shows.

After leaving the Restroom, the suspicious janitor went to the elevator lobby and took the elevator down from the 13th floor.

During that time, he kept his head down while walking, and even after entering the elevator he never lifted his head.

On top of that, he was wearing a mask and a janitor's cap.

As a result, the surveillance never captured his face.

Han Fei then retrieved the surveillance from the Da Ting on the first floor of the Weishi Building.

The janitor took the elevator to the first floor and walked straight out of the main gate of the Weishi Building.

"The building's surveillance is useless; we need to check the outside cameras to know where he went after leaving the Weishi Building," Han Fei paused the feed. "This perpetrator's counter‑surveillance ability is quite strong."

After that, Han Fei called over Chen Ke.

"Chen Ke, go again and pull up all the surveillance around the Weishi Building, and keep tracking this person!"

Xu Mo, standing nearby, recalled something and spoke.

"Outside the main gate of the Weishi Building is a plaza; I've seen it, and there isn't a single camera there. Checking surveillance is too slow. This person has some counter‑surveillance skill; he's deliberately avoiding having his face captured. Surveillance checks may not work; perhaps we should investigate the victim's social connections to see who he might have offended?"